The present invention relates to coated chewing gum products, and more particularly to gum products that are coated with a colored coating and a wax polishing layer.
One common form of chewing gum is a coated pellet. The gum may be coated with either sugar or sugarless coatings by a process known as panning. In panning, a coating solution is applied to gum centers and dried in repeated steps to build up a layer of the coating. Panning may be hard panning or soft panning, the difference generally being that in soft panning, powdered sweeteners are added between successive applications of coating solution to help build up the layer and dry the solution. The coating produced may be either smooth or have a mottled appearance; and is often colored.
Common coating materials include sugars like sucrose and dextrose. Sugarless coating materials have been more common in the recent including sorbitol, xylitol and hydrogenated isomaltulose (Palatinit .RTM.*). U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,127,677; 4,681,766; 4,786,511 and 4,828,845 disclose xylitol coating processes for gum centers.
Hard panning is very vigorous and the coating must have sufficient strength to withstand the coating process as the layer builds up. * Registered Trademark of Palatinit Sussungsmittel GmbH This is usually accomplished by using high levels of sugars or sugarless sweeteners in the coating solution. To keep the panning stress to a minimum, the coating solution is applied and dried quickly. However, high sugar concentrations and fast drying cause a rough surface. Panning procedures for sugar coatings have been carefully developed over the years to balance the vigorous panning steps to obtain a smooth, even surface without too much pellet damages. In some cases, additives such as gum arabic are used to strengthen the dried crystals of sugar on the surface, but this causes more roughness.
When xylitol is used in the coating, its crystal is much softer and requires a high level of gum arabic to toughen the coating, as well as the use of even higher concentrations of xylitol solutions. As a result, a xylitol coating may not be as smooth as a sugar coating, resulting in a rough surface. For a white pellet, these rough surface imperfections can be reduced with the use of a whitener like titanium dioxide, calcium carbonate or talc. However, for a colored coated pellet, the rough surface imperfections cause the color to look mottled and uneven, giving an unpleasant appearance.
Another problem associated with xylitol coating is that xylitol dries very quickly, and too quickly in the final coating steps. This causes some white dusting of the product in the final steps. This white dusting is not a problem for white products, but is a problem for colored products, giving them an uneven, spotted appearance.
A coated pellet gum is often polished by using a micronized or fine powdered carnauba wax sprinkled onto the gum surface and tumbled with the pellet in a coating pan. Carnauba wax polishing is done with hard panned gum to give it a pleasant appearance and help pellets flow through high speed wrapping equipment.
There are several patents that disclose a variety of sugar and sugarless coatings for chewing gum and other comestibles. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,238,510 to Cherukuri et al. discloses a sugarless coating containing sorbitol in crystalline form. The process uses a "soft panning" technique, where a dusting mix of powdered sweetener is added to help absorb moisture in the coating syrup. Binding components and film forming components are included in the coating syrup. Anti-sticking components and moisture absorbing components are included in the dusting mix.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,250,195 to Cherukuri et al. discloses a method of applying a soft flexible sugar coating to fresh chewing gum. A "soft panning" technique is used, wherein a dusting mix is applied to the gum centers after the first coating syrup is applied. Although the gum is coated while it is soft, the coating is also soft, though gum arabic in the coating is said to ensure that the coating hardens after four weeks.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,790 to Silva et al. discloses a sorbitol coated comestible such a chewing gum. The coating solution comprises a saturated sorbitol solution, crystalline sorbitol powder, one or more film forming agents and one or more crystallization retardants. Optionally the coating solution includes binders, plasticizers and moisture adsorbents.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,828,845 to Zamudio.Tena et al. discloses a xylitol coated comestible such as chewing gum. This patent discloses the use of film forming agents, binders and optional fillers and plasticizers in the coating syrups.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,924 to Woznicki et al. discloses a polydextrose-based coating material for, inter alia, chewing gum. The coating solution includes a detackifier such as lecithin or mineral oil.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,105,801 to Dogliotii discloses a coated edible product wherein the shell is formed of an intimate mixture of microcrystals of xylitol and a normally solid fatty substance. The fatty substance, such as cocoa butter, prevents the xylitol coating from transforming from a smooth shell to a cracked, rough structure. If the fatty substance is not itself an emulsifier, an emulsifier is optionally added to the coating. The coating may be applied to chewing gum.
EPO Publication No. 0 415 656 discloses a process for producing sorbitol coated comestibles capable of being dyed without the color fading or becoming mottled. Colorants are added to the coating syrup or applied to the gum pieces in between syrup coats. Also, sealing coats of natural and artificial food grade waxes, comprising 0.1 to 2% of the coating, are disclosed.
While these various patents disclose a variety of coating syrups or other coating compositions, none addresses the problem that the colored coating, even with the wax polish, is not as pleasing in appearance as it could be when optimum coating solutions and processes are used. This is primarily true for sugarless coatings. Thus, there is a need for a way to improve the appearance of colored coated gum products.